


We Must Stop Meeting Like This

by Meew3



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Asexual Seto Kaiba, Cubeshipping, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Gen, M/M, Multi, Post-Canon, Slow Burn, mostly follows subbed and transcend game is canon, post-dsod
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-14 06:40:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28666383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meew3/pseuds/Meew3
Summary: If a meeting occurs an ending is inevitable. Seto Kaiba fully expected for the last adventure with Yugi and Co. to be the last time he would ever hear from any of the group of glowing-eyed kids and especially of Diva who nearly crumbled all of his plans. The Plana would leave, and would be forgotten about. And Diva was happy to never see the one that ripped the paradise of a new world from his fingertips.Yet their paths inexplicably cross again after Kaiba's return from his dimension journey. Diva had already been keeping an eye out for anyone that may come after him after what he'd done, but this time, the younger Kaiba sought him out. Mokuba wasn't expecting his help after everything, right?
Relationships: Aigami | Diva/Kaiba Seto, Kaiba Mokuba & Kaiba Seto
Kudos: 3





	1. Parting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another fic because my attention span is all over the place. I'm in rarepair hell so yay.

“It’s for the best…”

While those words were said and the sight of the light of the mark of the Plana vanishing would seem peaceful enough, it was like nothing those children had experienced before.

Going back. Going back to an individualistic consciousness.

They could no longer _see_ what they used to. No longer _sense_ one another and simply think to each other to communicate. Utopia had slipped through their fingers.

The only thing somewhat comparable to a non-Plana member would perhaps be losing an eye and hearing in one ear.

The silence that settled into them was deafening.

But for now, the importance was getting out of here. After all that happened, there were probably people looking for them.

Sera was already ushering them out of the area, quickly devising a plan to scatter and where to meet up later.

No more blinking halfway across the world.

“Diva, can you stand?”

“I’m fine,” he replied with a grunt as he pulled himself to his feet. He grabbed his sister’s hand, and they took off.

* * *

Seto had checked on Mokuba first and foremost. But by the time he was done with that, Yugi and his group had regathered and were probably patting themselves on the back or hugging or whatever.

But before the Kaibas reached the group, a familiar object lay in their path. Kaiba leaned over to snatch up the cube, and right at that moment a voice came from the collar of his coat.

_‘Sir, we’ve stopped Aigami and his sister trying to sneak off the premises. What would you like us to do?’_

Kaiba gave the artifact a half toss, but even then, it showed no signs of being active. It even looked different from when they had examined it the first time.

After a moment he tucked it into his coat’s inside pocket.

* * *

“Let them go.”

Yugi’s posse seemed fine enough. And so did everyone that had been in the stadium during this all. Everyone in city seemed to have gone under before they had really known what was happening.

Probably a bit of a blessing in disguise that was. But there would still be quite the PR cleanup to deal with after yet another end-of-world-scenario.

All in a day’s work at KC.

And for the first time in a long time Kaiba parted ways with _Yugi,_ his classmate on better standings than they had in a long time.

Though now Kaiba knew he owed _Yugi_ a rematch as well.

But later. For now, he still had another goal to reach.

“What are you gonna do with that thing, Nii-sama? It looks dead.”

“Probably is,” Kaiba answered as he turned the thing over in his hand while they made their way out. “The pharaoh did indeed return. But then again, this thing’s power was also supposed to be unparalleled,” he scoffed.

“The Plana is gone,” a new voice stepped out of the shadow of the archway.

Diva was alone.

“The pharaoh returned and severed the connection and you still seek him? The Quantum Cube will give you no answers. Its power is gone.”

Mokuba reached for his phone, but Kaiba stopped his movements with a flick of his wrist.

“Yes, and I’m supposed to be scatted into atoms in another dimension as you said. And yet I’m still here.”

“Tech can’t get you to that level of consciousness, you already tried. And nearly died, I heard. I suppose that’s always _one_ _way_ to get there,” the ex-Plana shot back.

“For all your talk of your freaky kids being the next step in humanity or whatever you’re quite closed off to new ideas. Now, are you going to get out of my way, or do I need to get someone to move you?”

Diva scowled in frustration, and then stepped to the side.

“Your efforts will be fruitless, and you toy with something you do not understand.”

Kaiba didn’t even break stride. Mokuba was right on his heels.

_“Get out of my city, Diva.”_

Once the brothers had disappeared from sight, Diva set out for the meeting point to catch up with Sera.

Then he forgot about this all and moved on.

That would have been nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading, there is no update schedule, Cubeshipping has been a relaxing thing to write honestly. Hope you have a wonderful day!


	2. Kaleidoscoped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diva and Sera get invited back to Domino.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me writing first chapters: short, succinct, create the hook, leave it off on a good line  
> Me writing second chapters: 1600 words minimum, TiMe to sET the sTagE for EveRytHing

“Diva…Diva!” Sera prodded him in the arm. “Are you listening?”

The correct thing to say here was probably yes, but truthfully, he wasn’t.

“Oh, are you ready to check out?”

In Sera's hands held a nice stack of books for school. About a year later from losing the Plana his sister almost seemed normal. Aside from her reading selection being a bit more advanced than most children of her age. But lingering knowledge from the collective consciousness did have some perks in the education department.

“Have been for a while. Stop being so grumpy, you looked like you were going to win a glaring contest with the table.”

Diva rose from his chair and followed his sister to the front desk of the library.

“Just feeling a bit on edge,” he muttered under his breath.

And he couldn’t explain why. It could all be in his head. Or a sixth sense thing.

Sera drops her books into her backpack and they make their way out.

Or maybe it was the man in black at the corner of Diva’s vision or maybe the security camera that was placed at the corner of the block.

“I think we’re being watched,” he whispers.

He steers them through the city, trying to find a place out of the spotlight.

But Sera groans.

“We’ve been over this. I appreciate you being careful but come on. I think if anyone wanted to throw you in prison it would have happened by now.”

“Sera, I just have a—"

“It’s not a hunch. It’s fear.”

The siblings slow to a stop next to a payphone.

Diva risks a glance around, but there’s nothing out of the ordinary. Just people, going about their day.

“None of our old Plana members around the world have said anything,” she continued to reason.

“Right. Right… I know, I just…”

Sera simply nods before giving her brother's hair a playful yank, which makes him get payback, mumbling that he should just cut his hair if it’s going to be used as a target all the time.

“You’re right,” Diva sighed. “How about we stop by the bakery and get something to share with Mani when we get home?”

Sera laughs. “Careful, he may take that as an insult to his own skills.”

A phone rings.

The payphone they’re standing by.

Diva approaches it, unhooks the receiver, and puts it to his ear without saying anything.

“Took you long enough,” the familiar yet slightly changed voice of a younger boy sounded on the other end of the line.

“Don’t make a scene,” Mokuba instructed. “Because I don’t want to either. I just wanna talk.”

Golden eyes glance around, how did Mokuba know where they were? Was the threat a hollow one by the younger Kaiba?

Sera is already pulling out her phone to call Mani and warn him.

“Tell your sister that won’t work.”

The call wouldn’t go through. It rang and rang.

“You keep anyone else out of—”

“I just want to talk,” Mokuba repeated.

“Then spill.”

A sigh is heard from the other end of the line.

“There’s been an issue with my brother and I’m running out of options. He made it to the pharaoh but…”

“That’s—that’s impossible.”

There’s a pause that lasts several seconds.

“Can we discuss the rest of this face to face? It’s too complicated to explain everything now. I’m in the city obviously. You can even pick the spot.”

“And how do I know you aren’t going to have your SWAT team there to turn me over to the authorities?”

There’s a noise on the other end of the line, that sounded a bit like someone hitting a table in frustration. Actually, exactly that.

“I swear it’s not, alright? I swear on my brother's life. Seto’s not been the same since he got back and I’ve don’t know what to do I—”

Mokuba cuts himself off.

“Look, I could be doing this the mean way, like before. But I refuse to, okay? Please just hear me out.”

Diva concedes.

“I’ve got a place in mind.”

* * *

The younger Kaiba looked different. It was the first thing Diva noticed despite his interactions being so brief with him.

Brief meaning a headbutt that nearly sent him plummeting to his doom and an interrogation.

Mokuba was a fair bit taller than the last time, had his hair tied up in a ponytail and even his face had started to grow out of his boyishness.

Of course, he wasn’t alone, but this time only a single security guard with him instead of an army.

“Long time no see I guess. Want a muffin?” Mokuba tried, holding up a chocolate chip one.

He had already purchased several flavors without really thinking too far ahead about what to do with them. He hadn’t exactly eaten much on the flight over.

“We’re fine. Get to the point,” Diva said across the table.

Mokuba shifts in his seat uncomfortably. He was regretting many of his words last time.

“He got to the pharaoh's realm. But when he got back it was…painful to say the least. It’s painful and won’t go away even though it's been a few weeks now. Every doctor says there’s nothing physically wrong with him. Scans show up normal, everything’s normal—except he’s writhing in pain for hours. Best we can do is knock him out with something.”

The ex-Plana siblings exchange a glance.

“How did your brother even get there to begin with?” Sera asked.

“That’s where I’m hoping you guys will come in. He combined technology with that Cube thing. By itself it was dead, but he was able to somehow harness some of its remnant power. It’s _really_ complicated and I can try and show you the research and notes but—”

“He _what?”_ Diva snapped.

Everything that was just said should have been impossible. The Plana was gone, and to add insult to injury some _random outsider_ like Kaiba who didn’t even understand the cube’s power was able to salvage something from it all.

Sera recovered from the shock before him.

“I never would have thought it possible with what remained,” she said. “However… I suppose if anyone could manage to make the Quantum Cube work again in any capacity it would be him. He did manage to follow me past the world of Duel Links.”

Diva looked calm to everyone but Sera. She could see the tiny stiffening of his frame and gave him his own space to respond when he wished.

“Kaiba managed to bring forth a god,” Diva said eventually. “And even cut off my connection to the collective.”

As much as he didn’t want to admit it, there may be truth in what Mokuba was saying.

“If he’s managed to break that barrier by force using his technology, the stress and strain of bearing the brunt of it with no collective to aid him would be…overwhelming to say the least.”

Mokuba swallowed the lump in his throat. “Can it be fixed?”

“I don’t know. Going off of secondhand information is limiting.”

“Then can you help me? Come with me to Domino and at the very least see if there’s anything you can do—”

“Now why in the world should I help you two? You were the start of what took our power from us. The pharaoh would have never returned if your brother had just let him leave, _none_ of that incident ever would have happened.”

Said millennium items would have been buried under that rubble for the rest of time. And the Plana would have been running off to paradise.

“And how do I know you or your brother won’t turn me over to the authorities at the end of it?”

Mokuba knew he was losing his audience and losing him very fast. But he hadn’t come unprepared. He’d be taught better than that. He was usually one to be more open about his feelings and motivations. But an appeal to pathos would do him no favors right now.

“Well for one thing I was hoping we would at least have some common ground as siblings. Two, I know you’ve been keeping your eye on everyone else worldwide too. I’ll have you know there’s only a few documentations of your existence. Some on our system, some on others even if they don’t know what to make of it, so no one knows or has proof that you were behind the disappearances or the…everything almost dissolving thing, though they _are_ trying to figure it out. So, consider them all wiped if you do this for me.”

Diva's eyes flicked to Sera's. He, in turn, was excellent at reading her as well.

“I’m listening,” he said eventually.

* * *

“Don’t expect much. This may result in nothing. Or, knowing your brother, maybe I’ll get banned from the country.”

“Even if he says that, I won’t let it happen,” Mokuba said with an exasperated huff coming to a stop outside the door of his brother’s workshop.

“Isono’s inside, so go ahead.”

Diva halted before his hand could reach the door.

“Aren’t you coming in?”

Mokuba shook his head. “Anything more than two people causes him more problems than solutions—I don’t know why. But Isono’s there if Nii-sama takes a swing at you. Or the other way around.”

“Sera?”

His sister stifled a yawn, thoroughly jetlagged after however many gods forsaken hours the flight was.

“I’ll be fine, Diva.”

They could always consult each other later. Diva gave her a nod and stepped inside.

“So…” the void of awkward silence stretched between the two younger siblings for a few seconds. “Seen any movies recently?” Mokuba asked.

* * *

It was a normal scene for anyone who knew Seto Kaiba, except for the fact that his attire was more casual then what he would ever normally be caught dead in. The loose long sleeve t-shirt was what he reserved for runs or his seldom sick days. While this time it wasn’t a duel disk he was operating on, it was still some invention, whether it would become a product or if it was a pet project was still unknown, even to it’s creator.

“Mokuba?” Kaiba asked when he heard the door open, but his focus didn’t leave the metal and wires.

“Not quite,” Diva answered.

His concentration was cut, but Isono who was sitting across from him held up a hand partway.

_There’s no threat here,_ the gesture said, but Kaiba didn’t believe it.

The CEO fixed the visitor with a glare.

“I thought I told you to leave my city. Don’t you have a cult to run?”

Diva’s approach came to a halt a good arm’s length away from where Kaiba and Isono were sitting—which was probably a smart move.

“Don’t you have ridiculous requirements to impose on the citizens of Domino?” he shot back without pause. “Your brother told me to do otherwise. He asked me to come visit and try to help. But seeing you now, I’m starting to think he was overacting.”

There was another chair near the table, but Diva didn’t take it. He crossed his arms instead.

Seto turned his gaze back to his work.

“Can’t imagine why. Your band of glowing-eyed kids are gone, you’re not as important as you thought you were. In fact, you never were to begin with.”

Diva just chuckles.

“Ah, you can spit insults all day if you’d like Seto Kaiba, but you’re wasting your own time. How about you make it easier for the both of us and fill me in on whatever’s gone wrong with your ‘grand’ science experiment. And, if we’re both lucky they’ll be nothing I can do, and I’ll be on my way.”

Diva’s words hung in the air so long he figured he was just being ignored. He was about to just spin around and leave the room. That assumption lasted until the tools in Kaiba’s hands fell to the table.

Isono leaned forward to whisper something to Kaiba. Seto heard him but didn’t comprehend what was being said. A hand reached up to feel his forehead and it felt like it was on fire. He was about to order Isono to escort Diva out of there but before he could, a wave of pain washed over him.

His eyes.

But before he could reach for them Isono had grabbed his wrists and forced them down on the table. It was clear the bodyguard was uncomfortable with the predicament, but seemed to be a practiced motion and his grip held steady as Kaiba fought him, insistent in trying to scratch his own eyes out.

Kaiba made the mistake of looking at his assistant.

Isono was much older. No, his face was scarred from an explosion. No, they never met. He was a family friend. He got fired by Gozaburo soon after he and Mokuba got adopted. Wait, they didn’t meet until after Duelist Kingdom. He—no this was all wrong.

Diva asked something.

“—usually takes a few hours to pass,” Isono said.

Something was falling from his eyes and it _burned._ Where was it coming from?

“Kaiba. What do you see?”

He glances over at the visitor and it feels like his head is being split open.

But they had never met. No, Atem never returned and Diva’s faction left this dimension. He’d grabbed Mokuba and held him hostage. He’d gotten into everyone’s head and edited their memories to his advantage. They met before Atem had left, Diva was a normal student—no, none of that was right.

Seto wanted to throw Diva out of the country himself. Isono keeps him anchored.

“You lost to me in the tomb, Obelisk attacked next turn—you didn’t get any of the puzzle pieces. No, you fell. You didn’t make it. Yugi didn’t defeat you. No, you never—”

He couldn’t hear himself think over his rapid breathing and the mutter of words that left him.

A chair is pulled back and Diva takes it. He was largely ignorant but the scene before him reminds him of the struggles some members of the Plana would have when they first joined the collective. He decides to go out on a limb.

“You’re trying to draw borders between whatever you’re seeing. This isn’t your city. Don’t focus on what isn’t you. Trying to keep it all out will just aggravate. You need to exist _with_ it all, not assert your will over it, else everything is at risk of being torn apart.”

Japan was a collective culture, Diva knew. Kaiba was anything but.

“Sir, please.” But despite Isono's fatigue-laced words his boss's struggles don’t cease.

Diva’s voice is soft, and it’s hard to home in on among all the noise.

“You’re telling a drowning person to _not_ tread water,” Kaiba managed to hiss.

“Perhaps. I’ve heard that’s what it feels like. But it’s that or have your nasty headache for the next few hours.”

Kaiba just wished Diva would stop talking.

Two people, it was only two people! He hadn’t had such an issue with that before. But it was usually Mokuba or Isono—people he knew. Did that make it better or worse? Either way he owed Diva a fist in the face.

“Clear your mind and let go of yourself. Start counting for all I care, some of the Plana used to do that.”

Counting. He did that all the time for other things. Granted, it was usually multiplying previous sums by new random value each time, which likely wasn’t what Diva meant. Perhaps multiples would do.

He started with six.

It was like water slipping over his head and he was trapped just below the surface. Every ounce of his being screamed to break out of it, for if he let go of himself like instructed, what would even be left of him? Everything would be taken, he didn’t want to get swept up in it, what about Mokuba what about—

“Hmph. Should have known you’d be too stubborn to do it. You’re even a mad dictator over yourself.”

That little scoff managed to snap him out of it.

Spite had always been a good motivator for Seto Kaiba. Gradually, his struggles ceased, his breathing evened out, and the pain began to dissipate.

The surprise on the ex-Plana’s face was the first thing he could see once it did, for once not infuriatingly calm.

Diva knew he wouldn’t be going home anytime soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! All the characters have a long road ahead of them haha. Let me know what you thought!
> 
> Anyway, I'm back in classes so next update will defiantly take a while. Thanks for reading!


End file.
